In referring to apparatus for working a surface, it should be understood that the present invention relates to apparatus for improving the appearance of a surface, for example by cleaning or polishing the surface. Examples of surface working apparatus comprise cleaning or sweeping machines particularly adapted for use in the cleaning or sweeping of the floor space of commercial/industrial premises, such as supermarket floors or transport terminal concourses. Such machines may be so-called pedestrian operated in that they are controlled by a pedestrian operator who controls movement of the machine across the floor surface or, alternatively, such known machines may comprise so-called ride-on machines which support the operator during the cleaning process.
Such known machines further traditionally comprise surface-working head arrangements comprising rotating brush heads which are biased into contact with the surface to be cleaned at a particular pressure which may be dependent upon the nature of the surface being cleaned.
Known apparatus of this type is disclosed in UK Patent Applications 9518230.9, GB 2,283,905A and GB 2,290,021A, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Such known apparatus exhibits advantages over previous systems in that the pressure at which the brushes are biased towards the surface being cleaned can be accurately controlled and varied over a relatively wide range and, in particular, towards the lower pressure end of the range.
However, the mode of operation such known apparatus still somewhat restricts the purposes for which the apparatus can be used since the apparatus is restricted merely to surface-cleaning activities and so if further surface-cleaning activities are required, either on the surface cleaned, or upon a completely different surface, it becomes necessary to use a separate surface-working machine adapted for that particular surface.